Generally speaking in a thermal printer, the pressure between the printhead and the platen roller is a critical parameter that affects print quality, media movement, and the long-term performance of the printer. On many thermal printers, the printhead pressure may be manually adjusted.
Increasing the printhead pressure increases print quality contrast, increases the grip the roller has on the print media and thus the system torque load to the motor, may increase the possibility of motor stall, and if increased too much, will introduce smearing.
On the other hand, reducing printhead pressure will decrease print quality contrast; will decrease the grip the roller has on the print media and the system torque, which may cause the media to slip; and will reduce the likelihood of motor stall.
It can therefore be seen that correctly balanced printhead pressure is of utmost importance. As stated hereinbefore, allow a user to manually adjust the printhead pressure. However, the manual adjustment does not have feedback to the user on the printhead pressure thus adjusted.
Therefore, a need exists for printhead pressure feedback when a user adjusts the printhead pressure on a thermal printer.